


dearest partner of greatness

by pensgame



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dex is a good friend and also completely in love, M/M, Nursey with glasses, Pining, dex pov, gratuitous Shakespeare references, it's finals time at Samwell and Nursey is stressed, soft study bros, these boys are so Soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-06 09:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8744548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensgame/pseuds/pensgame
Summary: “I don’t get your studying style,” Dex tells Nursey, because it’s easier than saying I love you like this.





	1. Chapter 1

Nursey is beautiful all the time, Dex thinks, but especially like this.

Nursey is stretched out on the couch, laying on his back. There's a laptop propped up against his knees and a heavy-looking book splayed across his chest. Best of all, he’s wearing a pair of tortoiseshell-patterned glasses, which are slipping a little bit down his nose as he moves to underline a sentence in the book. Every few minutes, he types a few sentences and then returns to his reading, skimming a finger lightly along the page as he does so.

Dex momentarily forgets how to breathe.

He recognizes that, objectively, Nursey probably looks like shit right now. He’s overtired, probably, if the purple shadows under his eyes are any suggestion. He’s definitely overcaffeinated, because his fingers keep tapping distractedly on the edge of his book while he works. He’s certainly grumpy, because his face is etched in a kind of permanent scowl at the laptop. Still, Dex thinks he’s never liked Nursey more than in this moment.

Dex isn’t sure how long he’s been standing in the doorway, gazing stupidly and fondly down at Nursey. After some time, Nursey glances up, and his forehead creases a little in the middle. He doesn’t look displeased to see Dex, though, so Dex takes this as an invitation to speak.

“I don’t get your studying style,” Dex tells Nursey, because it’s easier than saying _I love you like this_.

Nursey shrugs. The movement almost displaces the book on his chest, and he takes a second to adjust it before answering. “If you’re one of those anti-underlining people, I’m afraid you’ve no chance of converting me to your heathen ways.”

It’s definitely classic literature, then, that Nursey is reading. He only uses words like _heathen_ when he’s reading classic lit. Or when he’s drunk on tequila.

“Underlining is one of the least effective forms of studying,” Dex says, just to be difficult.

“Shut up,” Nursey says, but there’s no real heat in his words. He takes a second to scribble something down in the margins of the book, looking- not lonely, exactly, but like he could do with some company.

Dex takes the opportunity to sit on the couch, moving Nursey’s feet out of the way to make space. Nursey makes a little frustrated sound, plops his feet right back down on top of Dex’s lap, and resumes his underlining.

“I can’t believe you write in your books,” Dex says, though he knows they’ve had this conversation before, back a few weeks ago when Nursey was similarly stressed.

Nursey doesn’t look up from his book right away, and when he does, he doesn’t quite manage to focus on Dex’s face. “Only in Early Modern English books, Dex, you know that.”

“Middle English, you mean?” Dex asks with a smile, knowing full well he’s treading on dangerous ground. Nursey doesn’t take the bait, which must mean he’s more stressed out than Dex originally thought.

If they were dating, Dex thinks, he’d maybe be able to give Nursey a big hug or a massage to calm him down. Or maybe a blowjob.

This is what Dex does now: he stares at Nursey and wonders what it would be like to date him. In a simpler time, Dex used to just wonder what it would be like to kiss Nursey, but now he’s mushy and disgusting and wants to, like, hold Nursey’s hand and help him get through his finals without developing an ulcer.

If Dex were Nursey’s boyfriend, maybe he’d be able to offer up other forms of stress relief, maybe drag Nursey off to bed for a bit to relieve some tension, but he’s not Nursey's boyfriend. Instead, he goes for the tried-and-true approach.

“What are you reading?” Dex asks, after a few minutes have passed and Nursey has finished typing something on the computer. He can only see the top half of Nursey’s face over the computer, but he looks vaguely displeased.

“ _Macbeth_ ,” Nursey says, though he takes a moment to say it.

Dex tries to make out the image drawn on the cover of the book and, sure enough, it's different from the book Nursey had been lugging around the house for the last few weeks.

“You finished _Hamlet_ , then?” Dex asks. The last few weeks had been punctuated with Nursey’s drawn-out complaints about the many versions of _Hamlet_ and the inconsistencies between them. Dex found out a lot more about the various versions of Shakespeare than he would have ever liked to know, but he didn't really mind. It would have been annoying had it been anyone else, but since it was Nursey, it was just endearing.

Nursey nods and takes a hand off the keyboard to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He keeps furrowing his brow at whatever he’s reading, so pushing his glasses back up seems like a futile effort, but Dex doesn’t bother to tell Nursey this. He likes the glasses, anyway. Dex has a lot of weaknesses when it comes to Nursey, but Nursey’s glasses are probably number one on the list of things that drive Dex absolutely crazy.

“Why are you looking at it like you hate it?” Dex asks, tearing his gaze away from the bridge of Nursey’s nose, which is preparing to tip his glasses off once again. It’s unfair for Nursey’s nose to be as cute as it is. Dex is charmed by it and simultaneously a little disgusted that he’s so gone on the guy that even his _nose_ is cute.

Nursey heaves an affected sigh, as though Dex is majorly inconveniencing him by asking a simple question. Dex knows him too well to believe it. Nursey has a flair for the dramatics, especially when he's been spending too long reading plays. Finally, after an exceptionally long silence, Nursey says, “I have to write a paper about _Macbeth_ , using this specific edition, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Nursey looks sullen. “I have issues with the footnotes.”

Dex really, really wants to laugh, but resists the temptation. “Elaborate, please?”

Nursey finally looks up at Dex over the laptop and even folds the screen closed a little bit to make eye contact with him, which is encouraging. “The footnotes of this edition are shitty,” he says, as if this explains everything.

Dex watches as Nursey’s glasses slip a millimeter down his nose again. “How so?”

Nursey pushes the glasses back up. Dex watches the motion: it makes something in his chest feels warm, expansive. “I don’t agree with their interpretation of the phrase ‘My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white,’” Nursey says.

This does not help Dex understand, but he nods. It seems like the thing to do. He tells Nursey, very seriously, “That sounds like a very trying problem.”

Nursey rolls his eyes, and Dex knows that he’s gotten Nursey on a roll.

“It’s vexing,” Nursey says, and Dex loves him even more for the word choice. “ _And_ they made a connection between Macbeth saying ‘they pluck out mine eyes’ and Oedipus, you know, literally blinding himself, and I think they’re risking completely confusing their readers. Those are two very different stories, you know? And there are certainly connections that can be drawn between the two, but to conflate them completely is just"- he pauses, clearly searching around for a word strong enough-"vexing.”

Vexing again. Nursey is really on a roll tonight.

Dex just says, “It sounds very vexing,” in his most patient voice, and lets Nursey plow on.

“Also,” says Nursey, gaining speed and volume now, “they leave out some of the most important pronoun shifts in the entire play. They just completely ignore them! We get explanations of all sorts of completely obvious interactions and a million definitions every time the word ‘fantastical’ comes up, sure, but no one thinks to point out that the pronouns completely shift during one of the most important exchanges!”

“This sounds like a real problem,” Dex says. He still wants to laugh, just a little, so he distracts himself with watching Nursey's hands, fidgeting on the corners of his keyboard.

“It is!” Nursey takes a moment to catch his breath and to adjust the book now perched precariously on his chest so that it doesn’t fall off. Then he says, “I also hate their footnote for the phrase ‘Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.’ It’s not about conforming to societal norms! It’s not about taboos! It’s not! I mean, I’m no Shakespeare scholar, but I swear to god, it’s not about that shit. For fuck’s sake, this is a book about _doing_ , about _creating_. That’s clearly where the emphasis lies.”

This makes no sense to Dex, but he hums sympathetically and lets Nursey continue with his rant, which goes on for several minutes and touches upon everything from the interpretation of female characters in Shakespeare’s works to the opposition between blood and milk. Dex understands very little and is slightly alarmed by Nursey’s comments about blood, but stays silent throughout with only a few emphatic nods every now and then. He really loves this boy. 

Finally, Nursey stops his tirade and lets out a loud sigh. “Thank you for listening,” he says, sounding weary, as though all the talking wore him out. “If I hadn’t gotten all that venting out now, it would’ve gone into my paper, and I can’t see my professor being too thrilled about that.”

"No problem," Dex says. He knows Nursey well enough to know that he’s not done, so he lets a comfortable silence fill the room while he waits for Nursey to start talking again. Sure enough, a minute later, Nursey says, “And another thing,” and picks up where he left off.

Nursey is beautiful like this, half-dead because of finals and overexcited about tiny phrases in Shakespeare. He’s especially beautiful in his glasses and his sweatpants, with his weird habits of underlining and writing in the margins, and maybe one day Dex will be his boyfriend and be able to tell him this, but not today.

Today, Dex just says, “Tell me about the topic for your paper,” because it’s easier than saying _I love you like this. Especially like this._


	2. Chapter 2

Dex doesn’t mean to do it, not really, but when he sees Nursey’s battered copy of _Macbeth_ on the couch early the next morning, he can’t resist.

Nursey’s taking a final right now, anyway, so he won’t need it. Dex has several tests he should be studying for himself, not to mention an essay or two he should be writing, but somehow, they suddenly seem insignificant.

Procrastination takes weird forms during finals week.

Dex takes a seat on the couch and picks up Nursey’s book, positioning his head at the end of the couch that’s closest to the window so that the light from the window makes a lovely warm glow over everything. It’s deliciously cozy in the room; everyone in the Haus is either sleeping or taking tests, and the room is filled with the comfortable silence of winter mornings. Dex can’t help himself; he darts upstairs to grab an oversized sweater, makes himself a quick mug of coffee, then stretches out widely on the couch with the book in one hand and the steaming mug in the other.

Dex may be a practical person in most endeavours, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an appreciation for aesthetics.

He reads. It’s been a long time since he got engrossed in a book like this, but it’s as easy as anything to fall into the world of the play. Dex is distantly aware that another world exists, outside of this one, but he no longer is a part of it, no longer remembers the names of any people but Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff.

There’s something terrifying and wonderful about it all, about escaping Dex’s own calm world and trading it for this bloody one. The language, which starts off feeling foreign and odd, becomes natural, more natural than any words Dex has ever spoken in his life.

Dex has never quite gotten what Nursey means when he describes reading as “interacting with a text,” but he understands it now. Nursey’s written all over the book, mostly just underlining important lines of dialogue, and Dex finds himself charmed rather than irritated by the additions. The editor’s footnotes, too, add depth to the play rather than taking away from it, and he’s able to read scene after scene without breaking his concentration.

Occasionally Dex will come across one of Nursey’s notes in the margin and the spell is broken for a few minutes as Dex puzzles over the comments made in Nursey’s pretty handwriting, trying to make sense of Nursey’s words. Usually, he’s jotted down something like _visceral imagery_ or _idea of privacy_ or _interesting verb choice_ , but there are a few instances where Nursey has clearly taken an objection to the footnotes and has just written _no_. This shocks Dex back to reality long enough for him to laugh and marvel briefly at how Nursey can be simultaneously the most wonderful person and the most difficult person.

He’s enthralled both by the play and by Nursey, and Dex doesn’t throw that word around lightly.

Dex isn’t sure how long he stays there, just reading and _interacting_ , but by the time he looks up next, the light that fills the room has shifted from an early-morning yellow to a cooler, brighter shade and there’s the faint stirring of movement from the rooms above him.

Nursey is standing in the doorway of the room, his arms full of books and loose leaf paper. He’s staring, a little openmouthed, down at the couch where Dex is reading. When Dex looks up, Nursey starts and arranges his face into something that almost resembles a normal expression.

“How was your final?” Dex asks, since Nursey doesn’t look keen to offer up any conversation.

Nursey shrugs, almost dislodging one of the books from the stack he’s holding. “Not bad,” he says. He opens his mouth to speak again, and then doesn’t. For Nursey, this is odd.

Dex closes the copy of _Macbeth_. Nursey’s eyes track the movement, looking vaguely unsettled.

“I figured you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed it,” Dex says, a little defensively, sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest to make room for Nursey on the couch.

Nursey’s face does another complicated motion before smoothing into his usual, unworried self. “It’s cool,” he says, moving to take a seat on the couch by Dex and dropping his pile of books and papers on the floor next to it. “What do you think?”

“Uh,” says Dex. “I like it?”

Nursey smiles encouragingly, as though ready for a detailed analysis of the play.

Dex is a little out of his element here, so he tells Nursey this. “I’m not an English major,” he says, and Nursey just laughs, the sound warm and pleasant.

“I don’t mind if you’re not an English major,” Nursey tells him. He’s wearing his glasses again, and Dex finds it slightly difficult to breathe. “I just want to know what you think. No fancy words necessary.”

“Fuck you, I know fancy words,” Dex says cheerfully.

Nursey laughs, snorting a little bit. The sound shouldn’t be as cute as it is.

“The characters are interesting,” Dex says, “and the plot is fascinating too, but strangely, I’m more interested in like, the language and shit?”

Nursey looks delighted. “Exactly,” he breathes out. “Not _what_ they say, but _how_ they say it, right?”

Dex nods.

“What do you think of Lady Macbeth?”

“She’s terrifying,” Dex says. “And also, it’s weird that she doesn’t get more of a name than just _Lady Macbeth_ , right?”

The look that passes over Nursey’s face is something Dex wants to remember forever. “Yes, and we should definitely talk more about that later.” He grins. “I have some really great lit crit if you want to go more in depth about it.”

Dex shrugs. “I don’t know if I want to read any articles, but you can tell me about it, for sure.”

Nursey grins again. “What do you think of the witches?”

Dex shrugs. “They’re okay. I haven’t finished it yet, so I don’t know how it ends.” Nursey opens his mouth to speak, and Dex adds quickly, “No spoilers!”

“I won’t spoil it,” Nursey says, holding his hands up in mock offense. “I’m not a monster. Where did you stop reading?”

“I had gotten to Act Four before I was so rudely interrupted by your presence,” Dex says. There’s no bite in his words; Nursey just laughs and ignores his chirp.

“Did you know that act and scene divisions are a relatively new development?” Nursey asks, looking excited. “I mean, there were some in the First Folio, but the Quartos didn’t have them.”

This means almost nothing to Dex, but he nods enthusiastically and lets Nursey tell him all about it. There was a time early on in the progression of their friendship when this would make Dex feel dumb, but now he knows better.

Instead, Dex just listens to Nursey talk and looks at him, really looks at him, at his eager face shining with excitement, at the way he uses gestures that seem to have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Nursey is relentlessly, passionately, adorably into Shakespeare, and Dex is relentlessly into Nursey.

He doesn’t catch every word that Nursey says, a little distracted by Nursey’s eyes and lips, but somehow, as he watches Nursey’s eyes light up again for the hundredth time, he thinks he understands the desire to write literature a little bit better.  

“What made you want to read _Macbeth_ in the first place?” Nursey asks, once he’s finished telling Dex about all the various versions of Shakespeare.

Dex wavers on whether or not to lie. “You,” he says finally, and the answer is so honest that it hurts.

Nursey cocks his head to the side, confused. “Me?”

“If I read Shakespeare, we can talk about it more,” Dex says, before he can stop himself. As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he realizes they’re true, that he wants nothing more than to listen to Nursey talk about books until the end of time. It’s suddenly very hard to look Nursey in the eyes, so Dex makes rather a production out of shifting himself into a normal seated position next to Nursey in order to avoid making eye contact.

“Dude,” says Nursey. The word is so quiet that Dex is half sure he imagines it. Then, louder, “I like talking about books with you, but I’d talk about anything with you, you know? You don’t have to read shit just because I like it.”

Dex looks up. Nursey is staring at him intensely. Too intensely. Dex wants to look away, but he keeps his gaze steady.

“I know,” Dex says. “I - well, I was curious. I think I really like _Macbeth_ .” He doesn’t say _I think I really like you_ , but he’s pretty sure Nursey understands what he means just the same.

Nursey’s eyes dart down to Dex’s lips. Under the rim of his glasses, his eyelashes are very, very dark. Dex is enthralled by him again.

“How do you decide what to write in the margins?” he asks Nursey, hoping that if he keeps talking, he’ll stop being tempted to lean over and kiss Nursey.

If Nursey is surprised by Dex’s subject change, he doesn’t show it. “I just write down whatever strikes my fancy.”

_Whatever strikes his fancy._ Jesus. Dex is too gone on this guy.

“I liked your notes,” Dex says. “It was interesting to see what you thought.”

Nursey looks touched. “It’s mostly just shit I think when I read it,” he says quickly. “They aren’t like, fully-formed arguments or anything.” He pauses to take a deep breath, and Dex suddenly realizes that they’ve moved closer to each other during the conversation. Their shoulders are touching, and Dex feels the contact all the way down to his toes.

“I especially liked the pages where you argued with the footnotes,” Dex says. He’s close enough to see the tiny imperfections in Nursey’s skin, and he falls in love with each and every one of them.

Nursey laughs again, and his face is fond. “Fucking footnotes,” he says, without any conviction. He moves closer.

“Fucking footnotes,” Dex agrees.

Nursey is staring at him with a look on his face that is bordering on - well, Dex wants to call it _devotion_ , but that’s probably not the right word. His mind is playing tricks on him. It’s the lighting, the book, Nursey’s pretty glasses.

Dex thinks back to all the times he’s listened to Nursey talk about his studies, thinks about how smitten he had been to want to listen to Nursey ramble on and on about Shakespeare all those times. It dawns on him that he’s missed part of the picture: all of those times, Nursey had been willing to stop his studies, put down his books, and patiently explain it all to Dex.

Dex realizes, distantly, that he's been an idiot, just as Nursey's eyes dip back down to his lips. 

It’s as easy as anything to move towards Nursey, cup a hand along his jaw line, and pull him in for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented and said they'd like to read a second chapter! A few things: 
> 
> 1\. If anyone's curious, Nursey is complaining about the Arden edition of Macbeth (the Arden editions are my favorite ones for Richard III and Hamlet and almost everything else, but I cannot stand their version of Macbeth). 
> 
> 2\. This was written as a way to avoid writing a French paper that I really have to write. Procrastination really does take weird forms during finals week.
> 
> 3\. The phrase "gestures that seem to have nothing to do with the topic _at hand _" is endlessly hilarious to me.__
> 
> __4\. My hockey/OMGCP sideblog is @pensgame. Come say hi and talk to me about Shakespeare or OMGCP or send me fic prompts._ _

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this today because I, too, have issues with the footnotes in my edition of Macbeth. Title is from Macbeth, because I couldn't resist. Remind me to write a Macbeth AU sometime if we all really want to cry.
> 
> This is very different from the last Nursey/Dex fic that I wrote, which was Nursey POV and also much more aggressive. Today I wanted to show them being soft.
> 
> Although I originally wrote this as a standalone piece, I might add another chapter to let Nursey and Dex actually get together. For now I'm going to mark it as finished.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @pensgame. Come say hi and talk to me about Lady Macbeth.


End file.
